Monday, February 8, 2016

Here is the fireplace in one of the bedrooms when we first purchased the house. It is a classic example of the Rumford style with shallow angled walls to reflect heat into the room and curved back wall to efficiently direct air flow and smoke up the chimney. The black surround is a cement parge around the opening, thought to have been typically painted black after the assassination of Abraham Lincoln in his memory.

When evaluating the fireplaces for use, a video survey of the flue revealed some missing brick above this fireplace. Repairs entailed removing the panel and then cutting into the chimney to get at the missing brick.

After the repairs to the chimney were complete, the panel was replaced with a 2-coat plaster technique. The mantle was also restored to a more historical condition. The last step was to redo the cement parge, which was cracked and separating from the brick when we bought the house. This photo shows the rough configuration of the ends of the Rumford walls that the parge conceals.

Here Edward is beginning to parge the fireplace face. This is a historical treatment, which would have been applied when the house was first built. But over time, it may age and need to be re-done.

This work requires lots of patience and concentration, control of the mortar workability and moisture level of the underlying bricks, not to mention incredible skill with a series of trowels.

Here Edward is nearly complete across the top of the fireplace.

And here it is with the parge complete. All that is left is to paint.

And also, to install this custom damper. Edward had this custom made to replace the insulation that is now being used to 'seal' the flue. These are being made and installed for all of the fireplaces in the main house.

23 comments
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Thank you so much for your explanations and photographs of the restoration of your "new" home.I have so much more of an appreciation of the amount of thought, research and work that goes into a well-done restoration. I will confess, however, that I can hardly wait to see what wonderful things you do when you decorate!

I totally agree with Sunny, your explanations and in depth details of the renovation are both fascinating and very informative. I cannot wait to see the end result, it has been such an incredible journey following this, I can totally relate to it having restored our own 1800 French farmhouse last year, but reading all about your's always gives me new ideas. Thank you

I love the detailed explanations of your home's fascinating restoration. The reverence and respect and carefully researched choices in all tgat you are doing are very much appreciated. Are you out antiquing on the weekends? Any new finds?

I am always looking! Not really in antique stores but at auctions in our area. In fact, I'm (we're) off to a preview today. I have found a few things here and there but not a lot of furniture, which we'll desperately need. I look forward to living in the house and making plans for that so much! Best, Catherine

It was our first-hand experience in our rental house that we did not want to continue with the insulation. For several reasons really but one large one was rodents! We have found that insulation does not keep out the curious chipmunk, flying squirrel, bat and mice! Best, Catherine

I love these kinds of posts that take us deep inside the walls. Oh the new mantel is lovely, soooo handsome. Do I see evidence that you closed off the little door and eliminated the wall register? Did that register have an earlier relationship with the fireplace ie shooting out heat into the room? New word for the day: parge. Thank you for all of this, Catherine!

Hi Flo! I forgot to mention the heat register. It is simply a poorly placed heat duct. We re-located the register to the floor in front of the same closet and patched the hole in the wall above. Yes, parge was a new word for us as well! Best, Catherine

Thanks for sharing! Great to see such loving care given to a antique home. One of our chimney stacks will need repairing and dampers installed soon and I hope we can find a talented mason as you have. They are hard to find!

Must agree with all the previous comments about your posts beings so informative and interesting. It is such a treat to follow along from here in Nebraska, to see you and your husband and your wonderful craftsmen honor this house, she looks like a beauty!

Another beautiful fireplace restoration! Will all of your fireplaces be for burning wood or will some of them have gas logs for ease and convenience? We have 3 masonry fireplaces in our old farmhouse in the mountains of western NC. On snowy days like today, there's nothing quite as cozy as a warm hearth and a wood fire! I'm enjoying your restoration journey. Thank you for sharing the details.

There will be a wood burning fireplace in the more informal living room and then we are considering gas logs for three other fireplaces. Gas logs are cleaner burning compared to wood burning and less messy obviously. Also, we think we'll have them going much more using gas rather than building a fire. So we'll see...That's the next step! Best, Catherine

I really admire all the work you are putting into restoring your fireplaces. The effect is superb! I did not know that it was customary to paint the surround black in memory of Lincoln. What an interesting tidbit!